“I felt a lot of bitterness” – Iga Swiatek gets brutally honest about getting used to life as a non-World No. 1

June 19, 2025

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Iga Swiatek opened up about initially feeling bitter about losing her ranking, but later realizing the unpredictability of the sport, and embracing the grind of hard work. Swiatek was last seen in action at the French Open, losing to World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open semi-finals.

Iga Swiatek spent 75 consecutive weeks as World No. 1, but ending her Italian Open run in the third round brought her down from the top two for the first time in three years. She had back-to-back semi-final and quarter-final exits this year and faced more losses than she did in the entirety of 2024. After her disappointing clay court campaign, the Polish player has been preparing to grace the grass soon.

In a recent conversation with Sport.pl, the 24-year-old refused to look at the rankings and focus on work since nothing is constant in sports. She admitted that more players are bringing an edge to the game, and her sole focus would be to trust her training rather than continuing the bitter feelings.

"It's not like I think about it every day. My perspective doesn't change in this context. Even when I was the leader, I always said that I didn't look at the rankings. And it still is. However, when I came back in February after the Australian Open, I actually had a moment when I felt a lot of bitterness about how I lost that ranking. But then I focused on work. I think that many people got used to being higher in the ranking, and I did too for a while."

She added:

"But sports work a bit differently. Anyone with common sense knows that not everything is constant in sports. Other girls are developing too, there is constant competition. I won't always be first. However, on a daily basis, when I work, train, play matches, I don't think about it at all. I know what tools I have and what I can show on the court. The fact that I play with the number doesn't change that."

Iga Swiatek last won a Grand Slam in 2024, defeating Jasmine Paolini in the French Open finals.

Iga Swiatek detailed the changes she brought to her game with the help of coach Wim Fissette

Iga Swiatek and her coach at the Roland Garros 2025 - (Source: Getty)

Wim Fissette, a Belgian tennis coach known for previously training Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka, and Angelique Kerber, joined Swiatek's team a month before the WTA Finals in 2024. In conversation with Sport.pl, the Pole revealed that her coach made some tactical changes at the start of the 2025 season that helped her improve her backhand and more.

"First of all, we changed the position a bit on fast balls to the forehand. That helped me a lot, because my grip needs a bit more attention when it comes to such shots. We also worked on the serve. I think you can see that I serve a bit better to the backhand. I was very happy with that."

Iga Swiatek was named to the Madame Tussauds Hot 100 list in 2025. She was also the Polish Sports Personality of the Year in 2023.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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